The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World (Hellenistic Culture and Society)
Luciano Canfora, Martin Ryle
To begin, Canfora is an excellent writer. As the back of this work promises, the prose reads as if from a novel. However, as soon as Canfora reaches the scholarship, there is about 30 pages where this spirit break downs, and he begins speaking about detailed scholarly considerations on sources about the library. For example, there is much untranslated Latin in this area. Overall, it's a useful introduction, but I feel an introduction with pictures and straightforward historical descriptions may be more effective.
